“Before We Go, I Want to Publicly Acknowledge,” by Matthew Olzmann

Poetry faculty member Matthew Olzmann was recently featured in Body. Read an excerpt of “Before We Go, I Want to Publicly Acknowledge” below:

Before We Go, I Want To Publicly Acknowledge

that I love every person in this room. I mean it.
We’ve traveled from all over to be here, and I love
each of you, all of you, every last one of you, except
Harold, but the rest of you I love fervently
and without limitation. It’s important that you believe
this is a boundless love, rhapsodic, without timidity
or hesitation, because everyone is deserving
of compassion, absolutely everyone, just
not Harold, but for the rest of you, this affection
is perfect, unconditional and free. Not “unconditional”
with air quotes around it, not unconditional
like a gatekeeper in the garden saying, Look
at the fruit but do not shovel it into thy weird little face,
saying, Love me and none other, saying, The first born,
the locust, the welt of grief I’ve pressed upon your back;
it is a truly unstoppable wave of tenderness
that doesn’t traffic in punishment or retribution.

Read the rest of this poem, as well as another, here: https://bodyliterature.com/2021/01/11/matthew-olzmann-2/